Port 25 and Static/Dynamic IP for Listserve SW

[Amedee @ Ubuntu]

On Mon, July 20, 2009 21:06, Piper wrote:

> Your categorization below would seem to indicate that Majordomo is no
> different from Express/Evolution if it is used only
> as a private "mailing list manager". There are only two additional
> features
> I need on whatever MLM I use: (1) I want automatic sub-unsub; (2) I want
> anybody on the list to be able to post to ALL others on the list.

You did not understand what Sandy wrote. Sandy wrote something completely
else.

I suggest that you talk to a professional Linux consulting company in your
neighborhood. Explain them what you want to do, but don't talk about
specific software. Ask them to propose you an efficient solution. Be open
minded.

The problem with you is, you describe a problem that is best solved with
solution A. By now, everybody knows what you want to do because your
problem description is so detailed. Actually that is the best thing that
you have done so far: describe what you need.
But you insist on solution B (which really isn't a solution) and you
insist that A and B are equal. They are not, and as long as you refuse to
acknowledge that difference, you will not have a succesful solution for
your problem.

> Majordomo does this. So I think all I have to do is ask my computer shop
> to
> configure the Majordomo SW which is now installed on the computer they
> have.

Go ahead. If it is a professional computer shop with Linux experience, you
will be lucky and they won't do what you ask but what you need, behind
your back, and hopefully they won't tell you how they have done it so you
will remain blissfully ignorant. There is absolutely nothing wrong with
being ignorant as long as it works for you.

> Presently there are no "port 25" or static/dynamic ip issues with Shaw if
> I
> send out to 50 people on the ABC list in Express (or Evolution). There is
> also no problem with Shaw if that list is revealed in the cc field and J
> Doe or W Smith  replies to all on the list.

Of course there isn't a problem. Every ISP works that way. It's pretty
default.

> I can therefore see no problem if I send out to ABC list and J Doe replies
> via Majordomo unless somehow a static ip address is required. In other
> words
> I simply use Majordomo as I previously used Express or Evolution.

You don't need a static IP address, you don't even need your own domain.
But at the very least you would need a dedicated email address for your
list. That dedicated email address should be mailable from the internet.
If your ISP allows you to create a separate mailbox
"mailinglist at provider.com" (not an alias but really a separate mailbox, if
you don't know the difference then they probably don't allow it) then
that's all what you need.

Then you can ask your computer shop to configure fetchmail to get the mail
from "mailinglist at provider.com"; your local fetchmail will feed it to your
local postfix; postfix will feed it to your local mailman/majordomo;
mailman/majordomo will do whatever list processing is needed;
mailman/majordomo will feed the result back to your local postfix; and
finally your local postfix will function as a smarthost and forward the
mail to your ISP's MTA (usually also postfix or exim)

> Is this a "commercial" venture? NO. IT IS NOT PUBLIC LIST HOSTING. I
> explained that I do not want the legal liability. If J Doe puts his
> IHATEPOLITICIANS list on my machine and threatens to blow up the
> Parliament
> Buildings, guess what happens to me? Also, this is not going to make me as
> rich as Bill Gates because if I can use Majordomo this way, so can anyone
> else. It is there, as free SW just like Ubuntu. Anyone else can pay the
> cost
> of downloading both as I did and then the additional cost of configuring
> it.

I currently run or have run in the past several mailing lists. All of them
were semi-public (just like the Ubuntu ML). None of them were commercial.

> What I will do of course as a public service is tell anyone else freely
> how
> they can go through the same steps I did to set up a private list manager.

Please do that. Although there are already a lot of good howto's:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mailman
http://freemars.org/howto/mailman.html
http://blogs.law.emory.edu/benchapman/2009/03/01/installing-mailman-on-an-ubuntu-server/
...

> China as I understand it is not really part of the world-wide web. Chinese
> Internet is a LAN, not a global WAN because of censorship. Those hosting
> listserves and web sites here can also legally exercise censorship which
> may
> be part of the Yahoo problem along with hacking etc. What I am doing here
> may be helpful in China. In a "politically sensitive" environment as you
> have there, individuals can host their own political lists and take full
> responsibility for them. Thus the unmoderated list may not be a wise
> choice for a private listserve.

"The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."
 - John Gilmore, TIME magazine (6 December 1993)

China can't successfully censor the internet without completely pulling
the plug. Knowledgeable people in China know how to route around
censorship, even without being detected.

> PS - I have 2 of my Canadian Constitution sub-lists in the cc field re
> specific constitutional clauses. After co-founding a registered Canadian
> political party in the early 90s, I started this slate of
> constitutional/political lists. The fact that I cannot even post to them
> now
> is a source of much frustration and a problem which must be solved. When
> technology fails this badly one must suspect political motivation.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity."
 - Hanlon's razor

The British version by Sir Bernard Ingham:
"Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I
do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered
to the cock-up theory."

Please keep politics outside Linux. As it is, there is already enough
technical politics, no need to add "real-world" politics.

-- 
Amedee